Kamigami no Asobi Episode 02-04 Review

As Kamigami no Asobiprogresses, I’m just gladder and gladder that it refuses to take itself seriously. More gods were introduced in episode 2; unfortunately, only two of those – Thoth and Anubis – show up in the opening, so we’re unlikely to actually get to see much of the others. This is based on a dating game, after all, and the focus will likely be on the gods that were featured in routes. In addition to new gods, we have the declaration that the gods present have to interact with Zeus-conjured fake students and learn from Yui what it means to be human and a “good student” before the end of the year or be isolated forever. This leads to shenanigans like trying to force everyone to attend a new student welcoming ceremony, classes (taught by Thoth, who, as the only god that has aspects involving wisdom, is the only available choice), and summer vacation.

Mostly I find myself constantly amused by how far into tropes and caricatures the characters get. They could play everything straight, and with Apollo they get dangerously close to doing so, but then Hades will physically back away quickly if anyone gets too close to him, everyone strips at the beach to flowery backgrounds and borders, and Zeus changes the seasons at the snap of his fingers. We literally go from spring to summer to fall in one episode. Everything’s so ridiculous and over the top that you can’t help but laugh. The lines the guys use are so saccharine and over-the-top and amazing for it.

The animation and music are nothing to write home about – pretty standard character design, and decent enough animation and unobtrusive music mean that you can focus that much more on how crazy the whole situation is.

My prediction is that they’re moving toward a Yui/Apollo endgame, but at least they are taking the time to expand on each of the gods so far – episode 4 is all about Hades’ supposed curse as the god of the underworld and Yui’s attempts to break it/prove that it’s nonsense, with the help of the rest of the cast. Once again, it almost gets serious, until Hades gets serious about rice cakes with strawberries. And by serious, I mean goes into a daze, complete with blushes and sparkles.

Kamigami no Asobi certainly isn’t a groundbreaking show or one that’ll make you ponder its meaning long after the episode ends, but it’s more than enough fun. By continuing to stop itself before it takes the concept of one human girl in a school of teenaged gods too seriously, it’s entertaining as hell and that’s enough for me.